Iain Banks
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Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. As Iain M. Banks he writes science fiction; as Iain Banks he writes literary fiction.
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Bibliography
Novels as Iain Banks
- The Wasp Factory (1984)
- Walking on Glass (1985)
- The Bridge (1986)
- Espedair Street (1987) – adapted for BBC radio in 1998 (directed by Dave Batchelor)
- Canal Dreams (1989)
- The Crow Road (1992) – adapted for BBC TV in 1996 (directed by Gavin Millar)
- Complicity (1993) – filmed in 2000 (directed by Gavin Millar), retitled Retribution for its US DVD/video release
- Whit (1995)
- A Song of Stone (1997)
- The Business (1999)
- Dead Air (2002)
- The Steep Approach to Garbadale (2007)
Novels as Iain M. Banks
Much of Banks's science fiction deals with a vast interstellar civilisation, the Culture, which he has developed in some detail over the course of six novels and a number of short stories.
- Consider Phlebas (1987)
- The Player of Games (1988)
- Use of Weapons (1990)
- Excession (1996)
- Inversions (1998) (makes covert references to the protagonists being Culture citizens)
- Look to Windward (2000)
- Matter (2008)
His other, non-Culture, science fiction novels are:
- Against a Dark Background (1993)
- Feersum Endjinn (1994)
- The Algebraist (2004)
Short fiction
Banks writes less short fiction but has published one collection, as Iain M. Banks:
- The State of the Art (1989)
It contains both science fiction and less categorizable works of fiction. The eponymous novella deals with the Culture, as do two other of the stories contained in this collection.
Non-fiction
- Raw Spirit (2003) (a travelogue of Scotland and its whisky distilleries)
Introductions
Banks has written a number of introductions for works by other writers including:
- Viriconium (1988) by M. John Harrison, the Unwin edition, ISBN 0-04-440245-7.
- The Adventures of Luther Arkwright: Book 3, Gotterdammerung (1989) by Bryan Talbot from Proutt Publishing, ISBN 0-907865-03-8.
- The Orbit Science Fiction Yearbook Three (1990) edited by David S. Garnett, ISBN 0-07-088833-7.
- The Human Front (2001) by Ken MacLeod, the PS Publishing edition, ISBN 1-902880-30-7 (hbk) and ISBN 1-902880-31-5 (pbk).
Contributions
Banks has contributed to a number of publications, including:
- New Writing Scotland (1983) ISBN 0-9502629-4-3. A poem of Banks's called 041. The title comes from the old subscriber trunk dialling code for Glasgow.
- The Edinburgh Pub Guide (1989) edited by James Bethell, Polygon Press, ISBN 0-7486-6053-4. A review of The Green Tree.
- The Culture #4 (2001) contained the words from the photo story Forbidden Love that Banks wrote for Viz, but which they would not publish without a cut that he would not agree to. It was written (and photographed) at the 1989 Eastercon.
- Critical Wave #26 (1992). After the death of Isaac Asimov, the fanzine contained appreciations of him by many SF authors including Banks.
- New Scientist #1865, pp38-9 (1993) has an article by Banks called Escape from the Laws of Physics about the science (or lack of it) in science fiction. Banks has also had a number of letters published in the magazine, for example, one on creationism in November 2005.
- The Observer (7 February 1999). A review of the Tower Restaurant on the top floor at the Museum of Scotland in the Life magazine section.
- A Sense of Belonging to Scotland (2002), edited by Andy Hall, The Mercat Press, ISBN 1-84183-036-4. Banks contributed a few paragraphs to this book about the "favourite places of Scottish celebrities". His chosen place was the Forth Road Bridge.
- The Guardian (2 November 2002). A review of the M. John Harrison novel Light headlined Into the 10th Dimension.
He is a semi-regular music reviewer for Marc Riley's Rocket Science radio show on BBC 6 Music. He was the subject of a South Bank Show television programme broadcast on 16 November 1997, subtitled The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks, which concentrated on his mainstream work. The Curse Of Iain Banks, a play written by Maxton Walker, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1999, with Banks contributing as a voice on tape. He has appeared on the BBC's political discussion television programme Question Time.
At the beginning of 2006 Banks captained a team of writers to victory in a special series of University Challenge: The Professionals on BBC2, beating a team of actors 185-105 (January 1 2006), and then the 'news' team 190-45 in the final (January 2 2006). He also won an edition of Celebrity Mastermind, taking "Malt whisky & the distilleries of Scotland" as his specialist subject on BBC1 on January 2 2006.
